Week 6 Religions of Today: New Age—Secular Humanism
New Age
The New Age religion sounds like Christianity in many respects. There is much talk about being what God created you to be, living your calling, listening to the inner voice. ….but it boils down to whose voice are you listening to? Your own. New Age is the Follow your Heart religion. You have divinity within yourself. Sin and Hell won’t be discussed, but O grace and love probably will! One of the Oprah Winfrey, one of the leaders of the New Age movement (which is actually not “new” at all, but rather a mixture of eastern religions that have been around for centuries) says, “Every time you suppress some part of yourself or allow others to play you small, you are in essence ignoring the owner’s manual your creator gave you and destroying your design.” Some parts of those statement such as your creator sound very much like what we hear in many Christian circles today. The problem is, the New Age is a deception, it is a distortion of the Truth and far too many Believers have become ensnared by it in some way. Many seeker friendly churches have been ensnared by it and are thus preaching a Gospel other than Christ’s—love tolerantly every one, don’t talk about sin and Judgment and only talk about Jesus as a good teacher who we can all feel good about.
Main Points
Secular Humanism–the state religion of America
Secular humanism is humanism or the religion and worship of man. Mankind is good and not fallen sinners who need Jesus Christ’s redemption. Their goal is to destroy religion in America—get God out of the schools, silence Christians, and stop people from “blindly” believing in God. In short, a confederation of atheists, agnostics, and “freethinkers.” Human reason is exalted, this life is all there is and the Bible is fairy tale.
Humanist Manifesto 2000
A Call for a New Planetary Humanism
Drafted by Professor Paul Kurtz, International Academy of Humanism, USA
I. Preamble
Humanism is an ethical, scientific, and philosophical outlook that has changed the world. Its heritage traces back to the philosophers and poets of ancient Greece and Rome, Confucian China, and the Charvaka movement in classical India. Humanist artists, writers, scientists, and thinkers have been shaping the modern era for over half a millennium. Indeed, humanism and modernism have often seemed synonymous for humanist ideas and values express a renewed confidence in the power of human beings to solve their own problems and conquer uncharted frontiers.
II. Prospects for a Better Future
For the first time in human history we possess the means provided by science and technology to ameliorate the human condition, advance happiness and freedom, and enhance human life for all people on this planet.
III. Scientific Naturalism
The unique message of humanism on the current world scene is its commitment to scientific naturalism. Most world views accepted today are spiritual, mystical, or theological in character. They have their origins in ancient pre-urban, nomadic, and agricultural societies of the past, not in the modern industrial or postindustrial global information culture that is emerging. Scientific naturalism enables human beings to construct a coherent world view disentangled from metaphysics or theology and based on the sciences.
IV. The Benefits of Technology
Humanists have consistently defended the beneficent values of scientific technology for human welfare. Philosophers from Francis Bacon to John Dewey have emphasized the increased power over nature that scientific knowledge affords and how it can contribute immeasurably to human advancement and happiness.
V. Ethics and Reason
The realization of the highest ethical values is essential to the humanist outlook. We believe that growth of scientific knowledge will enable humans to make wiser choices. In this way there is no impenetrable wall between fact and value, is and ought. Using reason and cognition will better enable us to appraise our values in the light of evidence and by their consequences.
VI. A Universal Commitment to Humanity as a Whole
The overriding need of the world community today is to develop a new Planetary Humanism—one that seeks to preserve human rights and enhance human freedom and dignity, but also emphasizes our commitment to humanity as a whole. The underlying ethical principle of Planetary Humanism is the need to respect the dignity and worth of all persons in the world community.
VII. A Planetary Bill of Rights and Responsibilities
To fulfill our commitment to Planetary Humanism, we offer a Planetary Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, which embodies our planetary commitment to the well-being of humanity as a whole. It incorporates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but goes beyond it by offering some new provisions. Many independent countries have sought to implement these provisions within their own national borders. But there is a growing need for an explicit Planetary Bill of Rights and Responsibilities that applies to all members of the human species.
VIII. A New Global Agenda
Many of the high ideals that emerged following the Second World War, and that found expression in such instruments as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, have waned through the world. If we are to influence the future of humankind, we will need to work increasingly with and through the new centers of power and influence to improve equity and stability, alleviate poverty, reduce conflict, and safeguard the environment.
IX. The Need for New Planetary Institutions
The urgent question in the twenty-first century is whether humankind can develop global institutions to address these problems. Many of the best remedies are those adopted on the local, national, and regional level by voluntary, private, and public efforts. One strategy is to seek solutions through free-market initiatives; another is to use international voluntary foundations and organizations for educational and social development. We believe, however, that there remains a need to develop new global institutions that will deal with the problems directly and will focus on the needs of humanity as a whole. These include the call for a bicameral legislature in the United Nations, with a World Parliament elected by the people, an income tax to help the underdeveloped countries, the end of the veto in the Security Council, an environmental agency, and a world court with powers of enforcement.
X. Optimism about the Human Prospect
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, as members of the human community on this planet we need to nurture a sense of optimism about the human prospect. Although many problems may seem intractable, we have good reasons to believe that we can marshal our talent to solve them, and that by goodwill and dedication a better life will be attainable by more and more members of the human community. Planetary humanism holds forth great promises for humankind. We wish to cultivate a sense of wonder and excitement about the potential opportunities for realizing enriched lives for ourselves and for generations yet to be born.
--accessed 1/8/2015 from http://secularhumanism.org/index.php/1169